A couple titles for this blog went through my head. The runners-up:

“This is my mistake; let me make it good.” That sprang to mind when Senator Roark was planning to bomb the oil rig.

“What a lovely way to say ‘I love you’.” Chloe. ‘Nuff said.

In the end, I chose the title above because, as unhappy as I am with the show this season, and as ridiculous as things got as the day progressed…I will not stop watching “24.” I mean, the day is now over, and I’m still wondering:

– What Wheelbarrow Wayne had to do in order to secure Jack’s release from Chinese custody in the first hour.
– How Jack’s hand got so horribly scarred. Yes, the torture, but through what means? By whose hand? They spent far too much time focused on his hand to just let that go.
– Who gave Mister Swank the orders to kill Assad and Palmer. They showed Swank talking to someone who was pulling the strings. Who was that man?
– Why Jack’s father was allowed to tamper with evidence at CTU and then leave after his son confessed to assassinating a President of the United States.
– If President Buck Buck Brawwwwwk actually died in the ambulance. I’m assuming so, but there wasn’t another word about him after that cliffhanger.
– Why Milo’s hair looked so drastically different in the episode where he was killed than it did in any other episode up to that point. Was his death a last-minute re-shoot?
– How our country’s counter-terrorist unit has the most hackable network in the world.
– Who Jack Jack’s real father is. That was pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if the writers got wind of the bloggers catching on to their plan and changed their tune mid-season. You gotta admit, they made it pretty obvious that Josh was not Grame’s son. Strained relationship between Jack and Heidi Petrelli, etc. Maybe they’re saving that for next season, now that Audrey’s a vegetable.

Despite all of this, I will still watch the show next year. It didn’t flick the ‘Off’ switch in my head that, say, last Wednesday’s “American Idol” did. “24,” on the other hand, can be saved. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

As Senator Roark is trying to save both his face and ass with the Russian president and American public respectively, I nearly laughed out loud at the proposition that he was giving them, his last-ditch effort to avoid a war.

“What is your proposal, Mr. Vice President?”
“Basically, I’m gonna blow everything within a quarter mile of the component sky-high. There will be no evidence that we actually destroyed the chip, but there will be no one left to confirm that we didn’t destroy it.”
“Mr. Vice President, I find your plan acceptable.”

Wow. Hey Suvarov, I have this great plan to make money quickly. First, you give me $5,000 to join our group, then find three people to give you $5,000….What a gulli-bull.

Meanwhile, Nadia gets a taste of the dark side by not following orders but ultimately doing the right thing, and the Ricker, as my wife was fond of pointing out, was blinded by science. Ow. On the bright side of life, Chloe’s pregnant, Karen and Big Balls Bill Buchanan (did I get that right, Giant Gary?) get to retire with their reputations intact, and Jack, once again, has to disappear, but not before saying goodbye to a sleeping Audrey. How many arrestable offenses did he commit today, six? Ten? More than one, no question.

So how do you save “24” from itself? Well, due to the title, there is no shortening the episode slate, like “Lost” will from now on. I do think they were on to something, though, when they shifted the focus from one villain to another. The problem was they did it too late. Had they shifted focus closer to the midway point, they may have pulled it off. Either that or have one villain, a compelling villain, dominate the whole show.

Here’s another idea: get out of Los Angeles. Spend some time on the left coast, maybe have some fun on South Padre Island (does anyone go there on spring break anymore? It was wicked popular when I was in college). Or, if you insist on staying in L.A., accept the consequences that your plot device gives you. They dropped a bomb on Los Angeles this year, yet continuously put its men in the field with little regard for the fallout. Maybe next year should be “24 Hours Later,” where the rage virus hits a major metropolitan area (don’t laugh, Fox owns the rights to that franchise), and it ends with Jack having to kill an infected Audrey.

Whatever they decide to do with “24” next season, I’ll be waiting for them, hoping that they’ve changed, like a battered spouse. Until then, I have seven sweet, sweet months of blog-free Mondays to look forward to. Sweet dreams.